$13.3 million hotel bill for Manus Island staff

Bianca Hall, Rory Callinan

Taxpayers are footing a more-than $73,400 nightly bill for detention centre staff to stay in a floating hotel moored off Papua New Guinea's Manus Island, Fairfax can reveal.

Government contracts show the department of immigration will spend more than $13.3 million to temporarily accommodate staff aboard the Bibby Progress, for seven months to May 30.

According to the website of Bibby Maritime, the British company contracted to provide floating accommodation for detention centre staff, the Bibby Progress boasts a large bar, restaurant, gym and roof terrace.

In October, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection listed a contract worth $1.2 million for the lease of the Bibby Progress to accommodate staff from the detention centre between October 31 and May 31. But it added a fresh contract in November worth more than $12 million, also to Bibby Maritime, for providing temporary accommodation for staff. Together, the contracts will provide for the accommodation of up to 310 staff in 159 bedrooms. The company says its ''coastel'' can be used to accommodate workers in remote locations or where existing accommodation is expensive or difficult to find.

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But the government may soon need more accommodation. After Tuesday's riots, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said 100 additional security staff had been placed on standby for deployment to Manus Island, in addition to the 130 extra security staff who had been sent to the island in early February.

During the protests, 23-year-old Iranian Reza Barati was killed. Manus Island security guard Ruben Lomon, who was working at the hospital on the night of the riot, said he saw the asylum seeker's body shortly after the riot was controlled.

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He said Mr Barati's body had a small cut to the neck and a severe injury to the top of the man's skull.

"It was like a rock had hit him or something,'' Mr Lomon said.

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Mr Lomon, who said he spoke to the escorting doctor, said the cut could have been made by a doctor attempting a tracheotomy to save the man's life. Mr Barati's body has been flown to Port Moresby for an autopsy.

In other developments surrounding the riots, Fairfax Media understands catering staff who saw the rioters jump the fence stepped in to help G4S guards and police, and may also be the subject of investigations about the injuries that occurred.

Mr Lomon said he also saw the asylum seeker who had been shot in the buttock, and believed the man had been hit by a bullet fired from a Mobile Squad police officer's weapon.

Despite reports that the asylum seekers were still protesting, the centre was quiet on Saturday morning. Locals working around the facility said most appeared to be sitting down calmly and there was no chanting.

The islanders were nervously watching impending change over in contractors handling the centre with dozens waiting on calls from the operators Wilson Security and Transfield, to learn if they would retain their jobs.